Bill Clinton’s Former Lawyer Endorses Trump Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh

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While several Democratic lawmakers push for obstructing the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s second U.S. Supreme Court justice pick, judge Brett Kavanaugh has earned praise from a number of individuals who know and have worked closely with him over the years.

One such recommendation came in the form of a letter to members of the U.S. Senate judiciary committee this week.

Bob Bennett, who represented then-President Bill Clinton during a high-profile sexual harassment case, said Kavanaugh was a promising young competitor working on the other side of the courtroom.

“I first crossed paths with Brett in the mid 1990s, when we found ourselves lined up on opposite sides of the decade’s biggest legal battle,” he said.

Bennett wrote that he was “serving as President Clinton’s personal lawyer in the Paula Jones case” while Kavanaugh “had just joined the Office of Independent Counsel under Ken Starr, then investigating the president.”

Though they were vociferous foes when presenting their cases, Bennett said he took away a respect for the manner in which Kavanaugh conducted himself.

Specifically, he pointed to the ethics the attorney demonstrated in what was a highly charged partisan climate, adding that Kavanaugh was able to “avoid falling prey” to political pressures.

“Brett’s integrity quickly won me over, and we became close friends despite our differences (and the differences between the Presidents we served),” Bennett said.

Bennett praised Trump’s pick as “the most qualified person any Republican president could possibly have nominated.”

Meanwhile, many in the Democratic Party’s progressive wing have begun to rally opposition to Kavanaugh’s confirmation on Capitol Hill, as reported by HuffPost.

Several groups are backing the growing effort to press Democrats for a firm statement of their intention to vote against him. Brian Fallon, a former Hillary Clinton spokesperson, issued a statement of support through his organization Demand Justice.

“The fight against Brett Kavanaugh is winnable but only if Senate Democrats quickly unite in opposition so we can focus on pressuring a Republican to break ranks,” he said. “At this point, it is absurd that there are still more than two dozen Democrats on the fence about Kavanaugh. He is the most unpopular Supreme Court nominee in 35 years and it is time to fight his nomination with the urgency it deserves.”

Some supporters of the effort say Democratic senators should ignore tradition dictating that they refrain from sharing an opinion on a Supreme Court nominee until a confirmation hearing has been conducted.

Advocacy group Indivisible cited President Barack Obama’s pick, who was not given a hearing by a GOP-controlled Congress, in a statement from associate policy director Elizabeth Beavers.

“We should ask Merrick Garland about standard Supreme Court procedure,” she said. “That’s not what we’re operating on.” (For more from the author of “Bill Clinton’s Former Lawyer Endorses Trump Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh” please click HERE)

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Trump Unloads on ‘Rigged’ Google, Threatens Action

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President Donald Trump was awake early Tuesday morning and once again took aim at the perceived bias of Silicon Valley with a pair of tweets aimed at Google.

The search-engine giant had been the subject of an investigation by one conservative website that found a majority of news results related to Trump were from “liberal” media sites.

That designation was itself lifted from a “media bias chart” compiled by journalist Sharyl Attkisson. Major media properties including CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post appear on the left-leaning side of that chart.

Apparently referencing that PJ Media report, the president began by tweeting that Google’s behavior could be against the law.

Google search results for “Trump News” shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

….results on “Trump News” are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018

He claimed the tech giant had “RIGGED” the system against him and his supporters while artificially amplifying the voices of his detractors in the media.

“Google search results for ‘Trump News’ shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media,” he wrote. “In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD.”

While keeping the focus on Google, Trump denounced “Fake CNN” as a “prominent” news outlet within the search engine’s results.

“Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out,” he wrote. “Illegal?”

As his statement ran into a second tweet, Trump hinted that his administration could take action against the company, though he did not elaborate on what crime he believes Google might have committed.

“96% of…….results on “Trump News” are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous,” the president tweeted at about 5:30 a.m. Eastern time. “Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good.”

Trump concluded by insinuating that Google’s influence is so great that it can effectively silence some voices on the internet.

“They are controlling what we can & cannot see,” he wrote. “This is a very serious situation — will be addressed!”

In a statement later Tuesday morning, the president’s economic adviser confirmed his team would be determining whether the government should step in to regulate what users find when they search for content online using Google.

“We’ll let you know,” Larry Kudlow said. “We’re taking a look at it.”

Earlier this month, Trump tweeted similar criticism of the nation’s leading social media firms, which have been accused of exhibiting political bias in removing or restricting access to certain content.

“If you are weeding out Fake News, there is nothing so Fake as CNN & MSNBC, & yet I do not ask that their sick behavior be removed,” Trump wrote. (For more from the author of “Trump Unloads on ‘Rigged’ Google, Threatens Action” HERE)

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Designer of 3D Printed Gun Will Distribute Gun Plans Despite Court Order

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The designer of a 3D printed gun said he will distribute his designs despite a court order that sought to bar him from doing so. . .

Cody Wilson plans to sell the designs for 3D printed guns through his company Defense Distributed, based in Austin, Texas. While it’s illegal to distribute plans for an entire 3D printed gun online, Wilson circumvented this by selling parts instead of a complete gun.

On July 10, the U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement with the Second Amendment Foundation on behalf of Defense Distributed, under which plans for the guns could be distributed freely online.

Wilson announced at a news conference on Tuesday that he had figured out a work-around, and would be selling flash drives with the plans on them instead of making them available for download. He will also limit sales to the United States instead of making the plans available internationally. . .

Trump is no fan of Wilson’s. In July, shortly after the settlement, Trump tweeted that does not think that 3D guns should be sold to the public.

(Read more from “Designer of 3D Printed Gun Will Distribute Gun Plans Despite Court Order” HERE)

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More Than Two-Thirds of School Shootings Reported to Feds in 2015-16 Never Happened

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. . .This spring the U.S. Education Department reported that in the 2015-2016 school year, “nearly 240 schools … reported at least 1 incident involving a school-related shooting.” The number is far higher than most other estimates.

But NPR reached out to every one of those schools repeatedly over the course of three months and found that more than two-thirds of these reported incidents never happened. Child Trends, a nonpartisan nonprofit research organization, assisted NPR in analyzing data from the government’s Civil Rights Data Collection.

We were able to confirm just 11 reported incidents, either directly with schools or through media reports.

In 161 cases, schools or districts attested that no incident took place or couldn’t confirm one. In at least four cases, we found, something did happen, but it didn’t meet the government’s parameters for a shooting. About a quarter of schools didn’t respond to our inquiries. . .

The Education Department, asked for comment on our reporting, noted that it relies on school districts to provide accurate information in the survey responses and says it will update some of these data later this fall. But, officials added, the department has no plans to republish the existing publication. (Read more from “More Than Two-Thirds of School Shootings Reported to Feds in 2015-16 Never Happened” HERE)

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Hmm: Meghan McCain for Senate?

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Over the coming days, Americans will continue to pay tribute to the late Sen. John McCain, who died on Saturday after a protracted battle with cancer. McCain, a decorated and extraordinary war hero and the Republican Party’s 2008 presidential nominee, was 81 years old. (I commented briefly on McCain’s life and legacy in Friday’s week-in-review post, published shortly after his family revealed that the Senator had chosen to cease medical treatment). Under Arizona law, Gov. Doug Ducey will appoint McCain’s replacement, who will serve until the next qualifying general election — in this case, 2020. Ducey, quite rightly, has declined to publicly discuss his decision at this time out of respect, telling the Arizona Republic that the issue is effectively tabled until Sen. McCain is laid to rest:

Gov. Doug Ducey will wait to name a successor to John McCain until after the late senator has been buried at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Maryland, an aide to the governor told The Arizona Republic on Saturday. “Out of respect for the life and legacy of Senator John McCain and his family, Governor Ducey will not be making any announcements about an appointment until after the Senator is laid to rest,” Ducey’s senior adviser Daniel Ruiz II said in a statement. “Now is a time for remembering and honoring a consequential life well lived.”

. . .

From the Republican Party’s perspective, it would probably be most helpful for Ducey to select an up-and-coming figure within the GOP ranks, thus helping that person build and burnish his or her credentials in advance of a 2020 run in an increasingly competitive state. It’s also possible that Ducey could view this role as that of a place-holder or caretaker, in which case, former Sen. Kyl would be a sensible and sterling pick. Kyl, by the way, is currently acting as Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate ‘sherpa.’ By going this direction, Ducey would avoid putting his thumb on the scale in advance of an eventual 2020 primary, a show of favoritism that could potentially alienate certain factions within the party in the lead-up to the governor’s own active re-election push. As for the rumors that Mrs. McCain is in the mix — and a Senate wife getting appointed to fill a seat is hardly groundbreaking — I shared this thought on Twitter yesterday:

Many people reacted negatively to this idea, citing concerns about dynastic politics. As noted above, I share those concerns. My point is that if the governor decides that he’s inclined to appoint a McCain to fill this seat until the next general election, my preference would be Meghan. (She meets the Senate age threshold, but I’m not sure if she meets any applicable Arizona residency requirements). This is not a criticism of Cindy whatsoever; I just do not know much about her ideology. Meghan, by contrast, has really found her voice as a conservative media commentator, exhibiting fearlessness and tenacity on the set of a show that is often politically hostile to her worldview. She, like her father, is a Trump skeptic in some respects — but she frequently stuck up for the president on Fox, and has done so at The View, as well, much to the chagrin or Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, and most of the live audience. (Read more from “Hmm: Meghan McCain for Senate?” HERE)

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Here’s What Happened When City Tried a Big Gov’t Solution for Homelessness

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In October 2015, the city of Portland, Oregon, decided to simply provide shelter to every single homeless family that asked for it. The plan backfired. . .

But by the end of 2017, the program was in a crisis. There weren’t enough shelter providers to handle the influx of homeless from outside the city and the county.

Rather than solving homelessness, the program spent all the resources the government had allocated to it, and not accomplished their goal.

The budget for the program exploded when it began to provide motel rooms for homeless families that they could not place in shelters. . .

Despite the “no-turn-away shelter strategy” failing spectacularly, the lawmakers say that the lesson they learned is that in order for it to work, it has to be adopted state-wide, and even nationally.

(Read more from “Here’s What Happened When City Tried a Big Gov’t Solution for Homelessness” HERE)

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Revealed: Big Majority of Americans Side With Trump, Not the Media, on Security Clearances

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Americans are backing President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan.

In a new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, 59 percent of registered voters think Brennan should have lost his security clearance. Another 64 percent said that former FBI Director James Comey and others at the FBI who were fired or demoted for their actions should lose their clearances, The Hill reports.

On the broad question of whether former national security officials who become consultants and TV pundits should keep their security clearances, 60 percent of registered voters said they should lose them.

“An overwhelming majority of the public thinks that former officials should lose their security clearance, and believe that former officials like Brennan and Coney should no longer have any clearance,” said Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll co-director Mark Penn.

“There would definitely be support for a wholesale policy revoking their clearances,” he added.

President Trump was viciously attacked in the media as a “dictator” who was attacking free speech after he pulled Brennan’s security clearance. This new poll confirms that most Americans don’t listen to and don’t care about the liberal media echo chamber. (For more from the author of “Revealed: Big Majority of Americans Side With Trump, Not the Media, on Security Clearances” please click HERE)

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Fox News Poll Has Bad News for GOP

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A new poll conducted by Fox News has disturbing news for the GOP: when Fox News asked respondents, “If the election for Congress were held today, would you vote for the Democratic candidate in your district or the Republican candidate in your district?”, 44% of men chose Democrats and 44% chose the GOP, but among women, 53% chose Democrats while only 34% chose the GOP.

Measured in total, 49% of respondents said they would be more likely to vote for a Democrat than a Republican in their district; only 38% said they would be more likely to vote for a GOP candidate.

President Trump’s approval/disapproval rating was underwater, at 45%-53%. The highest approval rating Fox has had for Trump this year came in February, when his approval/disapproval rating was 48%-47%. Men approve of Trump by a 52%-47% margin; women disapprove by a much larger 60%-38% margin. (Read more from “Fox News Poll Has Bad News for GOP” HERE)

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Leftists Push Gun Control After Florida Shooting. Then Facts Come Out.

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. . .Predictably, pro-gun control politicians and activists instantly politicized the shooting before any details were confirmed by law enforcement officials because it is often in that window of time — when the facts are unknown — that gun control advocates are able to advance their agenda the furthest.

The shooter had also been hospitalized twice as a teenager in psychiatric facilities for mental health issues, according to the Associated Press — which also noted that he “was prescribed anti-psychotic and anti-depressant medications.” . . .

It is currently unknown how the shooter was able to purchase the two firearms [in Baltimore] if he had been hospitalized multiple times for psychiatric issues. It is worth noting that if he voluntarily sought and entered treatment at a hospital for psychiatric issues, he most likely would not have been prohibited from purchasing firearms.

Transgender activist Charlotte Clymer tweeted a list of gun laws from the state of Florida which ended up being completely irrelevant as the shooter bought the firearms in Maryland:

Maryland has strict gun laws and the process for buying a handgun is complicated. A buyer must be fingerprinted with the Maryland State Police (MSP), must submit an application to MSP to receive a Handgun Qualification License (HQL card), must take a firearms safety course, must verify their HQL card to an FFL dealer, submit an ATF background check, and wait seven days before they’re able to purchase a single handgun. . .

(Read more from “Leftists Push Gun Control After Florida Shooting. Then Facts Come Out.” HERE)

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BOMBSHELL: Lanny Davis Changes Story. CNN Caught in New Reporting Scandal.

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Michael Cohen’s lawyer admitted on Monday that he was the anonymous source for a widely-criticized CNN report that claimed Cohen was willing to tell Special Counsel Robert Mueller that President Donald Trump knew in advance about the Trump Tower meeting in which Russians were expected to offer his campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper last week that Cohen “does not” have any information that Trump knew about the meeting in advance, saying, “I think the reporting of the story got mixed up in the course of a criminal investigation. We were not the source of the story.”

However, Davis told BuzzFeed News on Monday that he was the source for CNN’s July 26 report — which directly contradicts what he told Cooper. . .

However, Davis admitting that he was the source for the report — which he has since stated was not true — was not the only development to come out of CNN’s report. BuzzFeed News notes:

The original CNN story — broadcast during Chris Cuomo’s prime-time show and written by Jim Sciutto, Marshall Cohen, and Watergate reporting legend Carl Bernstein — said that Davis had “declined to comment.” His involvement in the story, on so-called “background,” has not been previously reported.

(Read more from “BOMBSHELL: Lanny Davis Changes Story. CNN Caught in New Reporting Scandal.” HERE)

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